St Mary Magdalene, Yarm

The west end and the base of the tower of the present building are part of the original stone church was built by the de Brus family in the latter half of the 12th century.

[2] The stonework of the Georgian part of the building has lost its weather resisting properties as a result of age and air pollution.

Above the door to the vestry was an oil painting depicting the Holy Family with the young John the Baptist by an unnamed artist of the 19th century in the style of the 16th-century Italian school.

This painting was disposed of in 2015 and has been replaced by a lightbox with a modern stained glass interpretation of Christ busting from the tomb.

On the left of the Ascension window is an old terracotta copy of a Della Robia plaque depicting the Virgin and Child that was found in the ruins of a French cathedral during the First World War by the writer E. V. Lucas.

Around the walls can be found framed prints of the Stations of the Cross and on the pillars are small shields bearing ecclesiastical signs and symbols.

The present pews, pulpit, clerk's desk and choir stalls date from 1878 and are in the Renaissance style.

The Altar rails are the work of the noted Yorkshire craftsman Robert Thompson – the Mouseman of Kilburn – and were given in 1948 in memory of Mary Clapham and her son John Geoffrey who was killed in the Second World War.

[6] Alongside the West wall set into the floor is the cover of a table tomb, dating from the 15th century.

The oldest is dated 1664 weighs 23 stone 9 pounds (150 kg) and is inscribed Fili Dei Misere Mei.

The next oldest is dated 1710, weighs 27 stone 8 pounds (175 kg) and is inscribed Sono Quantum Valeo.

In the Churchyard a modern headstone commemorates Tom Brown, "The Valiant Dragoon" hero of the Battle of Dettingen He died in 1746 and was buried in an unmarked grave.

A short distance away is a stone marking the original site of the Free Grammar School of Thomas Conyers founded in 1590.